Justiciability

IACHR Hearing - Bajo Aguan Honduras 2011

Although the right to food has been recognized in various instruments of international law and several national constitutions, many countries still lack a judicial culture of recognition in practice and/or the legal frameworks regarding the justiciability of the rights enshrined in the Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. There is also often a lack of a high level of enforcement.

Justiciability is essential for the right to food to be a legal right.

The right to food is justiciable when victims have the opportunity to bring their cases before a court or other judicial or quasi-judicial body, and get judgments in their favor. This includes compensation for the damage suffered, a guarantee of non-repetition and the expeditious enforcement of the court’s orders. Justiciability is essential for the right to food to be a legal right.

FIAN's Work

Through its justiciability work, FIAN designs and implements strategies to position the right to food within the legal frameworks and jurisprudence of countries and regions. At the level of the international human rights regime, the program includes FIAN’s support of the Optional Protocol initiative. The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights aims to allow individuals to bring complaints for violations of the rights guaranteed in the Covenant.

With the world still trapped in a multifold crisis, this year’s Right to Food and Nutrition Watch will take stock of the past decade and present thought-provoking discussions and alternative solutions for finding our way out.

A legal document presented to the Monsanto Tribunal underlines that States are accountable for not complying with their obligation to protect against human rights abuses and sheds light on the multinational’s liability under international criminal law.

A political and financial crisis has engulfed the work of the Inter-American Commission on (IACHR) and Inter-American Court of Human Rights, putting at risk the only human rights mechanisms in the region, which are binding for governments in the promotion and protection of human rights.

Leaders and representatives from Honduran civil society visit the European capital to present the economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) situation in Honduras and look into the EU’s relationship and commitments with their country.

Three years after the 'Curuguaty Massacre', we continue observing a patent partiality and dilation of justice, and the criminalization of social protest in Paraguay. Meanwhile, the trial against the peasant survivors of the slaughter is just around the corner.